All Posts Tagged With: "darfur"

In an attempt to show Europe and the world that he has the gravitas, dynamism and commitment to be a world leader and capture the Presidency of the United States, Senator Obama took his campaign to Berlin.

There he delivered an unprecedented speech before a record crowd of more than 200,000, his previous record being 75,000 at a rally in western Oregon during the primary campaign.

He spoke eloquently, aristocratically and audaciously. He touched on every issue of concern, to a wide array of the populace. He spoke about nuclear proliferation, famine, poverty, global warming, the apartheid in South Africa, terrorism, irradiating AIDS, genocide in Darfur and a plethora of other issues. All to the chant of the throng, “yes, we can,” Obama’s mantra. He brought the crowd to a frenzy when he said, “the walls between races and tribes; natives and immigrants; Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down.” The largest clamor came when he said, “and despite past differences, this is the moment when the world should support the millions of Iraqis who seek to rebuild their lives, even as we pass responsibility to the Iraqi government and finally bring this war to a close.”

The biggest lull came when he brought the crowd to a somber silence with this statement. “This is the moment when we must renew our resolve to rout the terrorists who threaten our security in Afghanistan, and the traffickers who sell drugs on your streets. No one welcomes war. I recognize the enormous difficulties in Afghanistan. But my country and yours have a stake in seeing that NATO’s first mission beyond Europe’s borders is a success. For the people of Afghanistan, and for our shared security, the work must be done. America cannot do this alone. The Afghan people need our troops and your troops; our support and your support to defeat the Taliban and al Qaeda, to develop their economy, and to help them rebuild their nation. We have too much at stake to turn back now.” This demonstrates Europe’s resolve to me. A true lack of consideration to confront world evil. An unwillingness to stand shoulder to shoulder with another to make the world a better place and to protect not only their own, but others.

But the preponderant issue for me appears to be the same for many others, as noted in a myriad of periodicals around the world. Obama’s speech was short on specifics and long on rhetoric. Although two statements he made humbled me and gave me pause: “I know that I don’t look like the Americans who’ve previously spoken in this great city. The journey that led me here is improbable. My mother was born in the heartland of America, but my father grew up herding goats in Kenya. His father - my grandfather - was a cook, a domestic servant to the British.

“At the height of the Cold War, my father decided, like so many others in the forgotten corners of the world, that his yearning - his dream - required the freedom and opportunity promised by the West. And so he wrote letter after letter to universities all across America until somebody, somewhere answered his prayer for a better life.” And, “But I also know how much I love America. I know that for more than two centuries, we have strived - at great cost and great sacrifice - to form a more perfect union; to seek, with other nations, a more hopeful world. Our allegiance has never been to any particular tribe or kingdom - indeed, every language is spoken in our country; every culture has left its imprint on ours; every point of view is expressed in our public squares. What has always united us - what has always driven our people; what drew my father to America’s shores - is a set of ideals that speak to aspirations shared by all people: that we can live free from fear and free from want; that we can speak our minds and assemble with whomever we choose and worship as we please.

“These are the aspirations that joined the fates of all nations in this city. These aspirations are bigger than anything that drives us apart. It is because of these aspirations that the airlift began. It is because of these aspirations that all free people - everywhere - became citizens of Berlin. It is in pursuit of these aspirations that a new generation - our generation - must make our mark on the world.”

What is one to think? After extensive research of Senator Obama’s record and accomplishments during his tenure, all the ducking and dodging about various controversial issues that have arisen henceforth, and not to mention the lack of specifics apropos issues he espouses, I believe this speech is nothing more than what he has been doing his entire campaign, demagoguery. After all, he is the quintessential demagogue isn’t he?

China slouches towards the Olympics with one hand behind its back, fingers crossed. The other hand is busier—fisting the face of tortured Tibet … again.

Darfur was bad enough. Hollywood types and even some athletes were getting queasy about attending China’s coming out party while Darfur bled white—or should I say black, because copping the crude is all the Beijing crowd cares about—and the glorious games were in trouble.

But Darfur was manageable. Hu Jintao and his CPC apparatchiks have all the muscle they need to make sure the world never sees kids from Beijing Polytechnic chanting “No Badminton for Oil!” on NBC’s Olympic feed.

China controls the news like a dominatrix controls her slave; I doubt many Chinese have ever heard the phrase, “genocide Olympics.” And for those few who know how to hack the no-no sites on the Chinese Internet, there are two magic words that keep them quiet as cold death.

“Tiananmen Square.”

But now this. Tibet in flames. And while the Party has locked out the media from that tortured place so effectively we don’t know if the official 22 have died, or the unofficial hundred plus (well, I guess we do know) enough news has leaked out to splash Egg Foo Young on their faces for everyone to see, if anyone cares enough to look.

As all the China experts and stereotyping racists will tell you, “face” is a big deal to the Chinese. That’s why the goon squads are pouring into Tibet by the truckload, squashing dissent—and more to the point, dissenters—as we speak. The Chinese Communist Party can’t afford to lose face; it’s how they keep their chokehold on power. Lose face and lose the Mandate of Heaven, lose face and people start to ask embarrassing questions, lose face and your ass will follow. Face must be maintained at all costs.

Tibet is paying that cost in blood. To save face, faceless Tibetans are being slaughtered by the dozens, or hundreds, or more. If this keeps up—and it will—soon there will be no face of Tibet at all.

This has not gone unnoticed here in the land of the free and the home of the maxed-out Visa. Here and there, when they can get a word in edgewise between the Barack/Hillary death match and the JLo twins, we hear cries of “Oh. The Horror!” from a few admirers of The Lama and a few more bleeding hearts, liberals and conservatives both, who never miss a chance to polish their morality haloes. Nancy Pelosi gushes outrage on the issue with admirable regularity.

Yes, I said admirable—because this time, she’s right, they all are, all the outraged, impotent hearts who bleed for Tibet.

But all the words are, to borrow a phrase, “Dust in the wind.” Because Darfur, Tibet, Falun Gong and the whole witches’ brew of Chinese oppression and callous indifference to the plight of anyone who stands in their way doesn’t amount to a hill of Mungbeans in American-Chinese relations. All that matters is cash. We are in bed with them.. If you don’t believe me, check the “made-in” tag on your pillowcase.

If our outrage was real, if we really meant it, we’d be screaming bloody murder.

“Hey, China! Cut out the crap in Tibet right now or we’ll void all those treasury bonds you hold and send our outsourcing to India.”

I’d love to live long enough to hear those words, but that would take several trips to the Fountain of Youth and I’m short of frequent flier miles. Instead we shed crocodile tears that make us feel noble about our cowardice in the face of brute power and hard cash.

But I can dream, can’t I?. My dream is for NBC to display the Olympic medal count using this graphic, come August.

Gold

Silver

Bronze

Dead Monks

It ought to be China’s dream too. It’s one category they’re sure to win.